The present invention concerns an adjustable unit for the unscrambling and lined up delivery of empty containers which is specially provided for feeding lightweight containers into filling lines.
The function of this type of units is that of taking containers from a location where said containers are grouped and randomly oriented in a scrambled arrangement, to thereupon deliver them one by one and oriented in an upright position (i.e. with their base resting on the floor and with their neck upwards) onto another given location such as for example onto a conveyor or a filling line.
Several units are known in the prior art comprising means to take container from a location where said containers are piled up in a scrambled arrangement and to individually deposit them in a lying position into a plurality of bottomless cavities or receptacles situated on a structure traveling along a closed circuit above a supporting stationary floor. The containers are in this way driven by the receptacle walls or cavity sides, and are slidingly supported by the stationary floor. At a discharge location said stationary floor has a gap through which said containers are transferred by gravity from said receptacles or cavities into discharge chutes. There is one discharge chute associated to each of the receptacles, and each of the receptacles has means to support the neck of the container regardless of the orientation of the container inside the receptacle, in such a way that when the container falls it always does so with its base first, this resulting in the upright positioning of the container with its neck oriented upwards.
European Patent EP-A-0 065 866 discloses a unit of this type with a rotary disk provided with peripheral openings defining container receiving cavities delimited by radial appendages. In this unit, said means to support the neck of the container regardless of its orientation inside the peripheral cavities consist in supports defined on said two appendages, situated one at each end of the corresponding cavity delimited by them, designed with a specific configuration as per their traveling direction and the length of the container, since due to the inertial and frictional forces the container does always tend to rest against the trailing wall of the receptacle as per the traveling direction. The appendage corresponding to the leading wall in the traveling direction does therefore comprise a simple support for the neck of the container whereas the appendage corresponding to the trailing wall integrates in addition to a support for the neck a stop arrangement for the base or bottom of said container in order to thus prevent said base from coming to rest on said support. With this arrangement, if the container is received in the cavity with the neck oriented towards the trailing side said container, due to the effect of the traveling motion, will rest against said trailing side, with its neck situated on the corresponding support whereas the base of the container will be freely supported and will thus slidingly travel on the stationary floor, since the support provided at the leading wall is situated at a predetermined distance as per the length of the container in order not to interfere with its base. If the container is received into the receptacle with the neck oriented towards the leading side the base of said container, due to the effect of the traveling motion, will rest against the stop arrangement of the trailing appendage, and not on the trailing support, thereby being supported by gravity and slidingly traveling on the stationary floor whereas the neck of the container, due to the stop of the trailing appendage, will be situated on the corresponding support of the appendage of the leading side. With this arrangement both in one and in the other case when arriving at the gap provided in the supporting stationary floor the container finding itself in the receptacle will always fall into the corresponding discharge chute with its bottom or base first.
In spite of being effective, this arrangement has the drawback that it requires a precise width of the receptacle and a very accurate positioning of said leading and trailing appendages within said receptacle, according to the shape and dimensions of each type of container. This means that in order to adapt a unit such as the one disclosed in the above-mentioned European Patent EP-A-0 065 866 to a different type of container it is necessary to carry out a manual adjustment of the position of said appendages one by one in a labor-intensive, difficult and time-consuming operation entailing a high financial cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,209 to the same applicant of this invention discloses a unit of this type comprising radial parts having on one side a leading appendage and on another side a trailing appendage, the cavities being formed between two of said parts, these latter being apt to be fixed in a plug-in connection to the moving structure of the unit, and being thus replaceable in an extraordinarily easy and quick way. Also in said unit the discharge chutes are provided with quick fastening means, and are also therefore easily replaceable.
This arrangement allows to better adapt the unit to the dimensions of different types of containers in a quick operation, but it has the drawback of not allowing a transversal adjustment of the cavities, and of besides requiring to keep in stock a set of radial parts and discharge chutes adapted to each type of container, with the consequent financial cost to be incurred because of this, besides the problem of the storage space required.
The French Patent Application FR-A-91 12 375 by this same applicant discloses an unscrambling unit of this type with peripheral cavities delimited by radial appendages wherein all of the leading appendages of the compartments are fixed to a first structure whereas all of the trailing appendages are fixed to a second structure, this second structure being relatively shiftable with respect to the first one, in such a way that by adjusting the longitudinal distance between the leading and trailing appendages in a compartment an identical spacing is obtained in all of the remaining compartments. Said French Patent Application FR-A-91 12 375 adopts a similar solution for the discharge chutes.
This solution represents a substantial improvement with respect to Patent EP-A-065866, but it doesn""t still provide a solution to the problem of the adjustment of the transversal width both of the compartments and the discharge chutes. The adjacent radial parts are besides connected in said patent by parts provided by way of bellows, so that if the cavity has its length reduced a wide circumferential area is rendered inoperative. Another drawback that is common to all units disclosed in the patents cited so far is the one consisting in the nonexistence of an outer wall at the cavities, the containers hence traveling in sliding contact with a stationary outer wall forming a shell, and being impelled against it by the centrifugal force when traveling along a circumferential path.
Patent Application EP-0 578 602-B1 by the same applicant of the present invention discloses on its side a unit of this type wherein the cavities are formed by a series of individual compartments similarly to the discharge chutes, both the compartments and the chutes being apt to be fixed in a plug-in connection to the periphery of said rotary structure, such that both the compartments and the discharge chutes are very easily and quickly replaceable with no need of tools, a set both of compartments and discharge chutes being available for each type of container.
The solution of the replacement of the compartments and discharge chutes has the advantage of providing, in a quick and easy operation, an optimal adaptation to each type of container in the three dimensions in space, the outer wall of each compartment preventing besides the containers from being in frictional contact against the stationary outer wall as they travel. Nevertheless, this system again requires a manufacturing and storage of one set of said compartments and/or discharge chutes for each different type of container, this then entailing a consequent financial cost.
Everything stated above allows to conclude that there is a need, in this industrial sector of the handling of lightweight containers, of a unit for the unscrambling and lined up delivery of empty containers having means to adapt said unit to different types of containers both in the longitudinal and transversal directions in such a way that said adaptation is carried out by means of a quick and economical operation and without requiring a space availability for the storage of replacement parts.
An object of the present invention is hence to provide a unit of the type discussed above provided with compartments with means allowing to adjust both the width and the longitudinal and transversal positions of the support for the neck of the container at the leading side of the compartments with no need to replace any parts.
Another object of the invention is that of providing a unit of the above type provided with means to adjust the discharge chutes both in the longitudinal and transversal directions with no need to replace them.
Yet another object of the present invention is that of providing a unit of the above type wherein each of said adjustments is simultaneously carried out in all of the compartments whether when manually acting on a given single compartment or through mechanical means both automated or not.
Another additional object of the present invention is that of providing a unit of the above type wherein adjustable compartments can be combined with replaceable discharge chutes.
These objects are achieved in a unit as per the invention by means of arranging all of the compartments on a first structure that is apt to carry out a traveling motion along a closed circuit. Each of the compartments is provided, in an area in the vicinity of its leading wall, with a transversal, elongated member such as a bar or rod forming the leading support for the neck of the container and being apt to be longitudinally and transversally shifted within said compartment, and with one of the walls being fitted in such a way that it can be transversally shifted within said compartment. Both said elongated member and said shiftable wall can be fixed in a desired position thus providing an adaptation of said compartment to the height and width of a given container.
All and each of said elongated rods or bars are associated to a second structure that is relatively shiftable with respect to the first one and can be fixed in a desired position thus providing with simultaneity an identical transversal positioning of the elongated members in all of the compartments.
The transversal position of all and each of the elongated members and/or of all and each of the shiftable lateral walls can on its side be jointly and simultaneously adjusted and fixed by means of, for example, a manually actuated cam device or by any other mechanical, pneumatic or hydraulic means.
The discharge chutes are formed by a leading wall, a lateral wall and a trailing wall, with an open side that is delimited by the wall of a stationary shell. All and each of the trailing walls of said discharge chutes are connected to said first structure whereas all and each of the leading walls are connected to a third structure that is shiftable with respect to the first one, whereby the relative position between both the first and third structures can be fixed in a desired position thereby providing a simultaneous adaptation of all the discharge chutes to the width of a given type of container. Each shiftable lateral wall of said discharge chutes is on its side apt to be transversally shifted thereby allowing to adjust and fix in a desired position its relative position with respect to the stationary wall of the shell. By means of a manually actuated cam system or by pneumatic or hydraulic means said adjustment is carried out in a joint and simultaneous manner in all discharge chutes for their adaptation to the width of a given type of container.
In one of the exemplary embodiments of a unit as per the invention each of the shiftable lateral walls of the compartments and each of the shiftable lateral walls of the corresponding discharge chutes are jointly formed by one only part apt to be shifted in a transversal direction, all and each of said parts being apt to be shifted to and fixed in a desired position in a joint and simultaneous manner thereby providing in one only operation an adaptation of all of the compartments and all of the discharge chutes to the width of a given type of container.